How to measure leather hide area from a photograph

• Choose a level floor, table, or mat. The background should be matte, uniform, and differ from the color of the leather hide. Remove foreign objects.
• Mark a rectangle in which the leather hide fits completely with extra space around it. You can use the edges of a rectangular mat or four clearly visible marks on the floor. If marking it yourself, check the right angles: four arbitrary points are not suitable.
• Use a tape measure to measure two adjacent sides between the same points that you will mark in the photo. Record the dimensions in centimeters.
• The corners and the leather hide must be on the same flat surface. If the leather hide is on a table, marks on the floor are not suitable for it.

The dimensions in the fields are not the recognition result. Replace the initial values with the actual dimensions of your platform. A reliable area cannot be obtained from a photo with no known scale.

• Measure one hide at a time. Smooth out folds and turned-up edges without stretching the material.
• The entire edge of the hide must be inside the platform. Leave clear space around it so the boundary is easy to see.
• Hands, weights, rulers, and other objects must not cover the edge or holes. The program cannot restore hidden areas.

• Shoot from above, over the center of the platform. Keep the phone as parallel to its surface as possible. A slight tilt is accounted for using the four corners, but a strong tilt makes accurate tracing more difficult.
• Use the main camera in mode 1×. Do not use 0,5×, panorama, portrait blur, or filters. If the platform does not fit in the frame, move farther away from it.
• The entire hide and all four corners must be in the frame, with a small margin around the edges of the photo. Do not crop out the markers.
• Ensure even, diffused lighting. Avoid glare and sharp shadows from the hide, phone, or person. If the flash causes glare, turn it off.
• Clean the lens, focus on the hide, and hold the phone steady. After taking the photo, zoom in: the edge and markers must be sharp.
• Upload the original file, not a screenshot or a compressed copy from a chat. JPG, PNG, and WebP up to 20 MB and 40 megapixels are supported. Save HEIC as JPG first.

1. Click «Upload photo» and select the photo.
2. Enter the platform dimensions in centimeters: the first is side 1–2, the second is side 2–3. For example, for a 200 × 150 cm platform, enter 200 and 150. These dimensions are only an example.
3. Click «Mark 4 corners». Indicate them around the perimeter as shown in the diagram. Click the points between which you measured the distances with a tape measure.
4. Zoom in on the photo and check each marker. In mode «Nodes» the yellow points can be moved. The yellow frame should coincide with the platform boundaries.

The dimensions can be corrected: the area is recalculated immediately. Change them only to actual measured values. If you physically changed the platform or laid out the hide again, take a new photo and mark the corners again.

1. Click «Automatically place points». The program will identify the background at the platform corners and create an outline. You do not need to specify the background color beforehand. All points can be edited in «Nodes» mode, and the result can be undone with the button ↶.
2. If refinement is needed, expand «Refine background and sensitivity». For a solid-color background, click «Specify background color» and tap an empty area next to the hide. Select the background itself, not the material or a deep shadow. You can specify several background shades.
3. Click «Select hide». The green boundary should follow the edge of the material. In a photo with multiple objects, the largest connected area is selected, so remove other hides and objects.
4. If extra background is selected, slightly increase the sensitivity or add a sample of the missing shade. If part of the hide disappears, reduce the sensitivity. After each change, press again «Select hide».
5. For a complex background, use «Outline hide»: Place points along the edge, more frequently around curves, then press «Close». In «Nodes» mode, you can move points; double-clicking the boundary adds a point. On a phone, select a node and tap “Add point after selected.”

Check the entire perimeter at high magnification, especially recesses, thin protrusions, and shadowed areas. Automatic selection is an initial outline that must be checked.

• Review the list «Excluded areas». Automatically detected holes have already been subtracted: do not outline them again. Remove from the list any areas that are actually leather.
• To subtract a missed hole or unusable area, press «Exclude area», outline it, and close the contour. Areas must lie inside the hide and must not overlap.
• A cutout open to the edge of the hide should be accounted for as a curve in the outer contour, not as a separate excluded area.
• If you retrace the outer contour, you must mark the exclusions again. Repeating automatic selection also replaces the contour and the list of exclusions.

«Along the outer contour» — the area inside the boundary. «Excluded» — the total of the marked holes and defects. The larger figure is the difference between them. This is the material area after exclusions, not a guarantee of part yield during cutting.

1. First check the capture method using a flat rectangular sample of a contrasting color with precisely measured sides. For example, a sample 50 × 50 cm = 25 dm² = 0,25 m². The sample must lie on the same surface, in the same plane.
2. Photograph the sample in the center and closer to the edges of the surface. This helps detect inaccurate markings and distortion near the edges of the frame. The built-in «Test example» helps you learn the interface but does not test your camera.
3. Take two or three independent photos of the same spread-out hide and measure each one. If the values differ noticeably, check the corners, dimensions, shadows, and outline. Consistent repeated measurements are useful, but do not by themselves prove accuracy.
4. Once you have checked the dimensions and boundaries, select «I checked the dimensions, contour, and excluded areas». The checkbox records your check; it does not automatically improve accuracy.
5. Click «Download measurement»: The file will save the photo, dimensions, and contours. Later, upload it using Open measurement. The completed measurement is automatically sent to the Vlotho CRM along with the photo. Site employees have access to saved measurements in the CRM. If the connection is lost, press Repeat saving or download the file before closing the page. The built-in test example is not sent to the CRM. SVG, DXF, and PDF preserve contours in millimeters at a 1:1 scale.

Method limitations: The visible flat projection of the hide is measured. Folds, hidden areas, and lens distortion are not corrected. The error in your photography must be assessed using real control samples; the number of decimal places does not indicate the same level of accuracy.